Most Californians love living in California, but many are also considering moving to another state.
A new statewide poll found 70% of respondents expressed high levels of happiness with living in California and applaud the state for its diversity. But 4 in 10 Californians are considering moving out of state, with the majority saying it’s too expensive to live in the state.
California has had three consecutive years of population declines, according to U.S. Census data.
“The state’s culture and diversity have proved to be a very powerful magnet to keep a lot of people here, even despite the affordability challenges,” said Dan Schnur, a communications professor at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley, who was an advisor on the poll. “But as the cost of living continues to be a greater challenge, it’s logical to assume that the allure of moving to a more affordable location is going to continue to grow.”
The California Community Poll was conducted by Strategies 360, a polling and research firm, in partnership with the Los Angeles Times. Other community organizations are also behind the effort, including the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, and the Los Angeles Urban League.
Californians worried about the economy
The poll was filled out electronically from June 6 to June 16 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. More than 1,300 Californians were asked about several topics, including the state’s diversity, economy, and overall satisfaction with living in the Golden State.
Only 29% of Californians reported feeling satisfied with the economy, which is down from 41% at the beginning of 2020. Nearly half also noted that they get by, but struggle to save money or pay for unexpected expenses. Over a quarter of respondents reported struggling to make ends meet.
The financial struggles were particularly prevalent for communities of color. About 59% of Black people and 34% of Latinos reported facing added barriers because of their race and ethnicity. And 81% of Black women and 62% of Latina women reported added barriers to receiving fair wages.
Nancy Yap, executive director of the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment, said the poll’s findings on community and diversity gave her a sense of optimism. About 71% of residents described California as diverse and 58% said this diversity is essential to bringing people together. Additionally, 68% of people said living in California is an essential part of their identity.
“Communities of color really saw that diversity brought people together and that California was bringing diversity to the forefront. It was such an important part of why they were happy here in California,” Yap said. “There are so many things that divide us, so many resources that feel so limited. But among all of our communities, it was clear that diversity was a key piece as to why they were in California.”
Why are people leaving California?
Since 2020, when the population decline began, California’s population has shrunk by about 500,000 people.
Experts credit California’s high cost of living as the main driver for people moving out of state.
According to Logan Mohtashami, lead analyst for HousingWire, a trade publication for mortgage, real estate, and housing professionals, the state has not been effective in lowering the cost of living because officials are not building enough homes. That means there is more demand for homes than supply.
“The housing market is savagely unhealthy because we still have too many people chasing too few homes,” Mohtashami said. “California is going to be a tug of war. Can they keep enough people here? Or do more people just keep moving away?”
Decreasing migration rates can also be a contributing factor to the population decline in California, said Schnur, of UC Berkeley and USC. He noted that net domestic migration out of California has existed for years but it was often leveled out by international migration into the state.
During the past decade, California’s immigrant population increased by about 5%, a historic low in comparison to the first decade of the 2000s, when the migrant population increased by about 12%.
“What allowed the state’s population to grow for a long time was the number of migrants from other countries and as international immigration has subsided, the state’s overall population began to decline,” Schnur said.
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What can be done to grow California’s population?
Real estate experts and non-profit advocates alike have urged California lawmakers to focus their efforts on building more homes as quickly as possible to curb the downward population trend in the state.
“The honest truth is unless the building really starts to explode higher, there’s not much people can do to lower the cost of living because land is so expensive,” Mohtashami said. “What can happen is if you keep on building and building more homes or allowing people to add units to their housing, you can make the cost of living here less encumbered.”
Helen Torres, CEO of Hispanas Organized for Political Equity, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit working toward political and economic parity for Latinas, said there must be an investment in housing across the board across communities of all income levels. She said she hopes to see the government invest in local businesses to create generational wealth and growth in local communities.
“If we’re not building more housing, if we’re not providing more opportunities for home ownership, or affordability, that is a crisis in the state, and it continues to be,” Torres said. “This is all a part of our recovery. What we’re facing right now is an economic crisis that we know there are solutions to.”
